Learn to Fly
by FlyingShadowhunter
Summary: When Tara finally escapes from the School, she tries to create a new life. But is she just too damaged to start over? Will she ever properly learn to fly?  -No flames, please!-
1. Prologue

_Run._

I tried to go faster, but it seemed as if all hope was lost. The wind rushed past my face and violently ruffled the feathers on my wings.

Yes, you heard right.

Sprouting from inbetween my shoulder blades were two very large, very real, wings. More about that later. For now, I was on the run. The whitecoats behind me shouted out my name, called for me to return to them. "Tara! Tara!" As if I would return to the place they had tested on me, made me who I was.

Next to me, my friends ran equally or slightly faster than me. To my right was a sleek girl, her black hair blowing behind her like a long, shiny ribbon. Two panther-like ears were placed symmetrically upon her head, and she had a cat-like tail as well. Her cobalt blue eyes were filled with tears. To my left was a blonde boy, his face lightly scarred from years of battle practice. His features were wolfy, due to him being mixed with lupine DNA. His amber eyes were narrowed with anger.

As for me, my waves of brown hair felt about ready to rip out of my head at this speed. My own green eyes felt about ready to tear up, and my thin, pale legs were Jello from running so hard. Reaching the end of the hall, I spotted my target; a half-open window. I bunched my legs, and leaped. There was the frightening sensation of free-falling, then I snapped open my wings.

They were huge, maybe 15 feet across. They resembled that of a seagulls', white, gray, and black. I pushed them down hard, and then I was floating. Camille stretched out, and landed gracefully-on her feet, I might add- on the top of a building nearby. Akakios hit not quite as smoothly, but still steadily.

"We escaped! Tara, Akakios, we escaped!" Camille's voice was lightly hinted with a french accent, and she leaped with joy.

"Not quite yet." Akakios's voice was rough, and he pointed towards the window where we had escaped. I turned to gaze upward at the shattered glass, shielding my eyes from the midday sun. The whitecoats were all huddled by the open window.

"Tara! You must come back-you don't fully understand!"

"I understand," I shouted back up at them, "That I am free. Forever."


	2. Chapter 1

Tara awoke with a gasp. No...she was still in a cage. Still in the School. And, she still couldn't fly. With a disappointed sigh, she gazed down, catching sight of her face in a puddle of water on the concrete floor. Her face was dirty and scratched, her eyes dull with sadness and her hair limp and greasy. Nothing like the pretty girl in her dream.

"Oh, Tara." Camille called from the smaller cage next to her. "Don't look, it does not help with ze sadness."

That's right. Tara constantly forgot that beauty-concious Camille was an empath.

"Does anything help? We'd might as well give up." Akakios grumbled in his gargled speech. His features were wolfy, not the fashion model Tara saw in her dream.

"X2009 seems to be progressing." The sound of the Whitecoats made Tara's head pop up. They had just walked into the small closet-like room that she, Camille and Akakios shared. "Can you speak?"

Duh, Tara thought, have you not heard me? To get on their nerves, she let out a small "Squaak!" The Whitecoats looked astonished.

"I suppose not," The second said. "But, F6284 is. Her skills at identifying others' emotions is unmatched by any other experiment."

"True. Let's move on to the next room." They walked off, scribbling furiously on their clipboards. Akakios almost looked bitter that they had said nothing about him.

"Lucky you, Camille," He growled, his blonde hair turned brown by grime. "You're so perfect. Powerful. Un-deformed." Akakios slumped into the back of his cage so shadow covered half his face.

"Akakios," Camille purred, "You are not deformed."

"What do you call the face of a wolf on the body of a man? I'm a mess-up. An Eraser they forgot to eliminate but kept around to torture."

"You're not an Eraser," Tara piped in. "You're more advanced."

"Ha! I don't have wings! I can't turn into a panther and fit through the smallest spaces! I can fight, and that's all. I can fight and scare the pants off of anyone who sees me!" Akakios was nearly screaming now, the veins in his thick neck popping. Whitecoats rushed into the room, looking concerned, and holding...oh no. Syringes, never a good sign.

Akakios let out a tortured wail as they stuck a syringe in his arm. He went unconcious immediately. Camille began to shriek, until she went out too. Finally, the jabbed it into Tara's arm. "What-" She slurred as things began to go blurry. "Can't take a little...noise?"

_- Well, thanks for the reviews! I hope this clarified things. Maybe I should have had her awaken in the first chapter, or post them both at once? Hopefully it may be overlooked, and I hope to continue!_


	3. Chapter 2

**When Tara awoke, she automatically felt cold."Unnh…" She let out a groan, peeling open her eyes, crusty with hours of medicine-induced sleep. ** "**Oh, she is awake! See, I told you, Akakios, she would awaken." Camille's high, French voice made Tara cock her head and look up. Indeed, Camille stood over her, wearing a tight black body suit. Her hair was clean and brushed, and now fell in curly ivory ringlets around her face. Her blue eyes shone with happiness. Even Akakios, who was now clean and shaven as well, had a slight smirk. The scars on his face had diminished, as if treated medically. ** "**What-what's going on?" Tara asked sleepily, raising one hand to rub her eyes. The area between her shoulder blades, where her wings extended, was incredibly sore, more than they every had been.** "**Oh, you see, somebody helped to get us out! Just like Max and her Flock! Maybe we could have a family of our own too! Oh, do you think so, Tara? Do you think we could all be a family?" Camille purred, her tail twitching happily. ** **At this, Tara's eyes opened fully and she sat up. She was laying across a beige colored couch, in an almost normal looking family room. It was accented with pictures of people she didn't automatically recognize, but seemed vaguely familiar. It was too…nice, too friendly looking. Which almost always meant a trap in Tara's world. "We need to get out of here!" she exclaimed, looking panicked.** "**Why?" Camille plopped down on a loveseat, her arms crossed. Akakios slumped against a wall, frowning slightly as if he disagreed with Tara's outburst.** "**Nothing this good has ever happened to us. It must be a trap." Tara tried to get up, but was too weak with hunger and pure exhaustion to make it past a leaning sit. Her eyes moved frantically around the room, searching for windows, doors, anything that she may be able to escape out of.** "**Its no trap," A new voice made all three of them look up. Standing in the hallway was an older girl, dark skinned. She was a little tall for her age, and well proportioned She was wearing a teal-and-white striped t-shirt, yellow shorts, and white tennis shoes. The girl had a slight smile on her pink lips, as if she was amused at Tara's confusion. She looked extremely familiar, but Tara just couldn't place who she was. Until she extended her bird wings. "I'm Nudge. I can teach you how to fly, Tara."**


	4. Chapter 3

-_Wow, that last chapter came out kinda funny lookin'! Guess its' because I used a different computer or somethin'? Keep reviewing!_

Soon after Nudge had entered, she was followed by two other people. One was tall, and slightly older than her. He had strawberry blonde hair that was kind of long, and fell in front of his eerily pale blue eyes. His gaze seemed to be fixed on a spot a few inches from Tara's head. The second one was slightly older than the trio, with blonde hair brushed up like he had been free-falling. His blue eyes were wide and childish, and he had a mischevious smile on his face. Camille's gaze seemed to be fixed on him.

"And here are the two pyros," Nudge continued. "Iggy and the Gasman! They can fly too."

"How old are you all?" Camille purred curiously, still looking sideways at Gazzy.

"I'm 23, Nudge here's 20, and Gazzy is 17." Iggy said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Camille played with a lock of her hair, occasionally stealing glances at Gazzy while Nudge said, "It's so cool to have you guys here!" She skipped forward so she was directly in front of Tara. "C'mon. While Iggy cooks dinner, we can go learn to fly!"

Nudge teetered on the edge of the roof, her wings outstretched. It was odd to see another person like her, Tara confessed, scared to begin.

"So, you just leap off-" Nudge lunged off the roof and hung suspended in mid-air. Tara was almost expecting to see her go SPLAT! on the driveway. "Then, move your wings up and down." Her strong wings surged downward, than back up, and soon, Nudge was soaring high above the house. Tara watched in awe.

"I-I'm afraid, Nudge..." She said, biting a fingernail. "I've never flown, obviously, and...what if, like, my wings don't work?"

"Of course your wings'll work! I promise. I won't let you fall." Nudge smiled warmly from the sky. Tara outstretched her wings, similar to that of a seagulls'. She stepped closer to the edge of the roof and leaped out. She spread her arms, trying to coordinate her wing beats. Panic surged through her heart as she realized they weren't working right.

"No-ahh! Nooo!" She began to free-fall, expecting to see her short, uneventful life flash before her eyes, but no. She was suddenly stopped, three yards above the breaking of every bone in her body. Tara cautiously peeled open her eyes to see the Gasman, his wings outstretched, his arms around Tara's waist.

Instantly, she blushed.

"I-ohh, um...thank you-I..."

"Well, couldn't have our guest go splat on the first day, hmm?" He slowly lowered her to the ground. "It's hard to learn to fly. You'll get better soon enough," He said, his hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks, Gazzy." Tara ran inside, horribly embarrassed. The last thing she saw before enclosing herself in the guest room was Camille giving her a jealous look.


End file.
